Program Notes of Clara Schumann Performances

Program Notes for Linda Plaut February 28, 1996 Trio Performance

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote this sonata
for a duo appearance with the famous Mantuan violinist Regina Strinasacchi.
Pressed by other engagements, he did not get around to giving her the violin
part until the night before. They performed it, without rehearsal, to warm
applause. After the concert, the Emperor Joseph ordered Mozart to bring
him the score. What Mozart presented was blank manuscript paper--he had
not yet had time to write out his own part! When the emperor reprimanded
him, Mozart replied, "May it please your Majesty, there was not a single
note lost."

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) composed the second
of his three violin sonatas in the summer of 1886 at the picturesque Swiss
resort of Thun. Influenced by the serenity of his surroundings, he wrote
a work which is both playful and meditative. The second movement is unusual
in that it alternates between a very lyrical theme and almost impudent
faster sections. The third movement features the rich, low register of
the violin and has an inspired coda.

Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was vice-president
of the Polish Composer's Union at the time of her unexpected death in l969.
Bacewicz studied music in Warsaw and Paris (where she had composition classes
with Nadia Boulanger) and had a career as a concert violinist for many
years before giving it up to devote more time to composition and teaching.
She was one of Poland's most prolific and famous composers, and streets
are named in her honor in Warsaw and Gdansk. A festival of her music was
held at Virginia Tech in l990.

Clara Schumann (l8l9-l896) was one of the foremost
pianists of her time. She premiered new works by her husband Robert Schumann
and their friends Johannes Brahms and Frederic Chopin. While she composed
prolifically from the age of nine, her spectacular performing career and
the responsibility of supporting seven children after her husband's early
death limited her output in her later years. Three Romances, Piano Concerto
in A Minor, and Trio in G Minor have recently received several fine recordings.

Bila Bartsk (1881-1945) devoted more than eight
years of his life to collecting the folk music of his native Hungary, Roumania,
and Slovakia, taking down on paper or on phonograph records more than six
thousand folk songs. This immersion in a musical tradition which was intense,
passionate, and unhibited, transformed the career of the classically-trained
composer. The dances in this collection range from sensuously lyrical to
violently rhythmic.

Program Notes for Linda Plaut October 22, l995 Romances Performance

British composer Rebecca Clarke (l886-l979) studied
composition with Sir Charles Stanford at the Royal College of Music. An
accomplished violist, she was one of the first women members of a professional
orchestra in London. From l9l6 on, she established herself as a composer
and viola soloist in the United States. She was twice a second prize winner
at the Berkshire Festival in Tanglewood, MA. On one of these occasions,
the jury was unable to decide between the two top compositions until Elizabeth
Sprague Coolidge, the Festival's chief benefactor, cast the deciding vote.
Clarke reported that the jurors, who did not know the composers' names,
were amazed that the runner-up was a woman. Following her marriage to pianist
James Friskin in l944, Clarke devoted herself to teaching and to touring
as a solo violist, composing very few works from that time on.

Ursula Mamlok (b. l928) fled Nazi Germany with
her family in l939 and moved to Ecuador, one of the few countries still
accepting refugees. Through the help of a family friend, she was able to
apply to the Mannes School in New York, where she received a full scholarship
in piano and composition. She worked closely with George Szell and won
several national prizes in composition at an early age. She continued her
studies with Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolfe. Mamlok has received many
grants and commissions, and her music has had numerous performances around
the world. She has taught at New York University and the Manhattan School
of Music. She says, "My music is lyrical, friendly, objective, and joyful.
I never plan that a piece should have a certain emotion; whatever happens
just comes out naturally."

Clara Wieck Schumann (l8l9-l896) was one of the
foremost pianists of her time. She premiered new works by Frederic Chopin,
Johannes Brahms, and her husband Robert Schumann. While she composed prolifically
from the age of nine, her spectacular performing career and the responsibility
of supporting seven children after her husband's early death limited her
output in her later years. At age 14, she began work on the Piano Concerto
in A Minor. She performed the completed concerto at age l6 with the Leipzig
Gewandhaus orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. The beautiful slow
movement, with a lyrical theme for solo cello, was imitated later by Robert
Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and other Romantic composers. This concerto
and the Trio in G Minor have recently received several fine recordings,
as have many of Clara's songs and solo piano works.